One of the best parts of being a teenager is experimenting with different looks and finding your own style. If your teen is in this stage right now, it can actually be a lot of fun to join in with it, rather than thwarting their desire to try out different things with clothes, hair, and make-up. As long as it doesn’t go against their school’s dress code and the changes aren’t permanent, there is nothing to lose by embracing their interest in having a unique look (or a series of unique looks that change like the wind!).

One thing where your own experience may actually be a big help is if your teen wants to start changing their hair color (assuming you have ever dyed your hair yourself – although even if you haven’t, a second pair of hands and eyes can help a lot when applying hair dye as a novice!). It can also be a really fun thing to do together and a great way to bond.

Helping Them Choose A Dye Carefully

Hair dye comes in lots of flavors, and if they want to make a dramatic change like going from naturally blonde hair to black, then it is best to talk through their options. A permanent hair colorant is not the best choice for a first-time hair experiment. While they may be certain they want black hair forever and ever, if they change their mind and want to go back to a lighter color and have used a permanent dye, this will mean they’ll have to do some serious bleaching, which will damage their hair. And even then, they may not get it back to the color they want (it may very well turn bright orange).

Encourage them to choose a temporary or semi-permanent color instead. While this will fade, it is better to dye it again in a few weeks to keep the color if they like it than to have to go to great lengths and ruin the condition of their hair if they want to go back or try something else.

Look Through Style Ideas Together

Teens who are new to changing their hair color may simply assume that a color they like on a model or celebrity in a picture will look the same on them. Actually, skin tone and eye color make a lot of difference, and what may look striking on one person can make another look washed out. It is a good idea to look through pictures and try and find images where the model has similar eye color and skin tone to your teen, and base tones on that. One shade of red, for instance, may be better for them than another, and doing this will help you both find out which. There are lots of useful hair images and ideas at mynewhairstyles.net, which can be a good starting point.

Get Your Gloves On!

The final thing to do is to help them to apply the color. Even experienced people sometimes end up with patches at the back that they missed, and so for a first timer, getting even coverage on their own is going to be ultra-hard.

If you dye your own hair, you and your teen can even make a day of it, picking out new styles together and helping one another with the application!

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We left our home in Sydney, Australia many moons ago in May 2012 and, other than a brief stint back in Perth for Christmas and a wedding in early 2014, we have been travelling the world nomadically ever since, running a business from our laptops and we’re here to show you how to do it!